Washington, often referred to as Washington State, was the forty-second state to enter into the Union, on Nov. 11, 1889. The state is named after the first president George Washington. Its capital is Olympia, and its largest city is Seattle. It is located at the extreme northwest corner of the 48 contiguous American states.

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Geography

The state has a notably wide variety of terrain and boasts of three national parks. The western edge of Washington borders the Pacific Ocean and has the only temperate rain forests in the country, the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault. The Olympic Mountains rise from sea level to nearly 8,000 feet in elevation. Puget Sound, gouged by the Vashon sheet in the last ice age, brings ocean access to ports far inland. The Cascade Mountain Range bisects the state from north to south and contains several large volcanoes, both active and dormant. The eastern half of Washington is much drier, with a continental climate and much farmland irrigated by Columbia River dams and irrigation works constructed in the time of the New Deal.

Politics

Washington was the first state to allow women to vote in local elections, since 1855.

The 2004 election created controversy due to a virtual tie between candidates conservativeRepublicanDino Rossi and liberalDemocratChristine Gregoire. Rossi won both the original election and the first recount, but the second recount gave the election to Christine Gregoire by a mere 129 votes.[1] Controversially, on the second "recount," more votes were counted than ballots were cast in Washington state.

In 2009, Washington was the first state in the United States to affirm civil unions by a public vote (Ref. 71). In 2012, they continued this continued this trajectory by fully implementing marriage equality by a vote of the people. The same year, they fully legalized marijuana possession.